No Donut or Eclair for G1 Owners?

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Bad news, fellow G1 owners. Our handset's crippling lack of RAM is going to make it pretty much impossible for us to receive any future Android updates. Android and Me reported earlier on the fact that the cupcake update filled up the G1's system partition. This means that there is little-to-no room for the substantial amount of code that the donut and eclair updates are purported to involve.

While T-Mobile has denied that updates will be ceasing, they haven't promised that we'll see any new firmware updates hit for the G1. One of the Android engineers tweeted about the situation and did not seem optimistic about the update potential for the G1. His exact words were,

“As much as I'm hoping that it'll be possible to somehow continue updating the G1, I can't promise anything.”

The fact of the matter seems to be that the G1 will not be receiving any full updates beyond cupcake. This is a shame, but it's not exactly a surprise. Early adopters usually end up taking the shaft in some way. For those of us that jumped on the Android bandwagon early, the cost is going to be rapid obsolescence. T-Mobile will continue to put out G1 updates, but we aren't going to see the same size or quality of upgrades that other Android users will.

If you want to continue to see Android grow, your best bet is going to be grabbing one of the new Motorola devices set to hit this Fall. Those of us with two-year contracts are going to end up being out some money, or spending the next year behind the curve. I'm afraid there's just no way to avoid it.

The Author

Robert EvansThe excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive
Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast
moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows
where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.